It got dark. Kinda.

[SnowgodCCR]

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We're going back tonight with a faster lens to try and get better pictures. f/3.5 was the fastest on that one right at 18mm. Tonight it's going to be an f/1.8 50mm lens, so I should have a little bit easier time taking a better picture.

 

[AZKJ]

Nice pic, looking forward to your next one.

A suggestion if I may... try a slower ISO setting and a longer exposure time to get rid of the noise (grain), or use a noise reduction program.

Here is a free one you might want to try: http://www.imagenomic.com

I took the liberty of redoing your photo and looking up the tech info.

Your Original...

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Using a noise reduction program...

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Your pic info...

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​

Edit: I'm glad I checked the site when I looked up the URL. They updated their free program....

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[hyde]

I can't believe ISO 200 resulted in such a grainy picture. With lower shutter speed, lower EV so that the jeep or light sourced don't become overexposed. Good Luck.

 

[AZKJ]

I can't believe ISO 200 resulted in such a grainy picture. With lower shutter speed, lower EV so that the jeep or light sourced don't become overexposed. Good Luck.

The general rule of thumb... higher ISO = more noise.

It also depends on the camera, each make/model is different. I have a Sony DSC F717 that produces less noise at higher ISO settings than my newer Sony DSC F828... go figure.

The best thing since sliced bread... digital cameras and computers.

Here's what I started out on...

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[hyde]

That looks mammoth-like.
Generally anything below 400 should not cause such high noise on the picture. I took this picture with ISO 1000 in a very dark environment:

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[Corwyyn]

A suggestion if I may... try a slower ISO setting and a longer exposure time to get rid of the noise (grain), or use a noise reduction program.

Unfortunately ISO200 is the lowest his D70s will go (my D50 is the same way), and without using the bulb setting the max exposure is 30 seconds.

A very nice picture, hope to see what you get on the next attempt. Just remember that with a longer focal length you'll most likely get some trailing unless you have a tracking mount. As for the noise, it is unfortunately one of the problems of digital astrophotography, but it can be overcome. I'll post up some info as soon as I can dig it up again...

 

[AZKJ]

Generally anything below 400 should not cause such high noise on the picture. I took this picture with ISO 1000 in a very dark environment

Again, it ALL depends on the camera make and model. With my Sony DSC F828, ISO 200 and up is worthless for low light. BTW, your pic at ISO 1000 is very grainy....

 

[SnowgodCCR]

Ok, there wasn't any noise in the original, but there also wasn't any Milky Way. I ramped up the Exposure and Brightness settings in Aperture, and that's what introduced the noise. That's why I wanted to go back again tonight, and try it with a faster lens, so I wouldn't be introducing all that noise in post. It looks to be clouding up now though, so I don't know if I'll bother going back tonight.

 

[Corwyyn]

Actually, the noise was present, it just didn't show in the image at the normal exposure levels. The purplish noise in the upper left corner is caused by the op-amps along the edge of the CCD chip, the rest is mostly thermal noise.

Here is some more information on removing noise. The after-market products can do a good job, but sometimes at the expense of fine detail in the final image. Best thing to do is take some time and experiment with the different methods to see what gives you the results you want.

Noise reduction thru image averaging

Dark-field subtraction to reduce noise

More advanced info on noise reduction
(this one has some good image examples of the op-amp noise I mentioned above)